1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the monitoring of the orthopedic motion of a person and, more particularly, to the detecting of when the person starts and stops engaging in Such motion.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
One known device for monitoring the orthopedic motion of a person is a pedometer. A pedometer typically is mounted on the waist of a person and is configured to count the footsteps of the person by measuring the number of times the person's body moves up an down during footsteps taken by the person. One prior art pedometer design uses a weight mounted on a spring to count the number of times that the person's body moves up and down as the person is walking. By properly calibrating the pedometer according to a previously measured stride length of the person, the distance traveled by the person may be measured by this device.
Another prior art pedometer device uses an accelerometer to measure the number of times that a foot impacts the ground when a person is in locomotion. That is, an accelerometer is mounted on a person so as to produce a signal having pronounced downward going peaks that are indicative of moments that the person's foot impacts the ground. These devices therefore produce results similar to the prior art weight-on-a-spring pedometer devices in that they merely count the number of footsteps of a person.
Some walkers and runners find it useful to measure a time between when they begin and when they finish walking or running. Heretofore, this time measurement has been accomplished by means of a stopwatch held in the hand of a person or worn on the person's wrist. Using a stopwatch, a person can manually start a timer when he or she begins to run or walk, and can manually stop the timer when he or she stops walking or running, thereby measuring a total time that the person was in locomotion, e.g., during a particular exercise session. This manual starting and stopping of a timer can be burdensome for the person because it requires the person to physically depress a button to accomplish the same.